Reasons why we do not recommend AVG 2011

Posted by callthatgirl on February 19, 2011

…Or any of their products for that matter. Put simply, viruses, spyware, and malware get right through most free antivirus programs. And AVG 2011 is no exception, it’s one of the free products that we see most often when we remote into a computer that has viruses on it. Not only is AVG 2011 a bad and heavily bogged down product, but it is just not worth the download, free or paid. (And in our opinion AVG 8.0 used to be one of the best). But just like with Norton (we consider AVG Norton’s little brother) or Symantec products, they both took a once good product, weighed it down, and ultimately just ended up ruining it. Sometimes it’s just right to leave things well enough alone.

Check out two Google searches we did:

Here are a few things you should be aware of with AVG 2011

• Firewall can cause several problems–such as block you from trying to do something
• Doesn’t work–viruses/malware/spyware get right through
• Hard to remove (sometimes requiring a removal tool–sometimes it just stalls)
• The social media protection features do not work as I found a Facebook virus on one AVG computer!
• AVG 2011 install has caused some of our clients worse problems–blue screen of death, won’t start normal
• AVG 2011 has caused computers to malfunction (especially with Google Chrome!)
• AVG 2011 has caused programs to not open properly due to a registry error (with it being installed)

Stay away from AVG 2011

Call That Girl advises that you skip ALL FREE products and be smart and purchase products that are already being proven to work–such as our SuperAntispyware tools. The tools we use at CTG to remove viruses are a mix of our own knowledge, a few fixer programs and SuperAntiSpyware. This blog is not a push to have you buy our favorite products, but to let you know that for the low cost of $40, you can buy a great product, that protects and detects any possible threats with real-time protection–and it’s one of the tools we use at Call That Girl to help your computer be free of these attacks.

If you are a do-it-yourself type, here are the tools you will need to do the removal of AVG and install and purchase the SuperAntiSpyware yourself.

Download SuperAntispyware for free here

Pay for the $40 LIFETIME license for Superantispyware here

Try removing AVG 2011 from your Add/Remove programs first, if it fails…then try the removal tools listed below.

AVG Removal Tool here (32 bit)

AVG Removal Tool here (64 bit) 

You will need to configure the SuperAntiSpyware program once you download it. We will have updated instructions here today, so check back.

If you do not understand which version or “bit” your computer requires, call us and we can help you figure that out for free. Just call 952-681-7969. If you want help with uninstalling AVG 2011 and to get SuperAntiSpyware installed, this can be done for $32.50 by one of our help desk techs. It should just take about 15 minutes to do this. Just $40 for the product, and $32.50 for a qualified tech to install…That’s a one time price of only $72.50, so you end up never having to pay for antivirus protection again. More than fair, considering the possible alternatives, don’t you think?

Contact us below or call for a quick appointment so CTG can get you and your system protected today! 952-681-7969

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Does your cursor or mouse move while you type?

Posted by callthatgirl on February 8, 2011

Ah, this is a common problem with many our clients.

Does this happen to you? You’re typing like a mad person and all of a sudden you see your mouse/cursor move to another spot on your screen. And you’ve noticed for awhile now.

This is a common problem with laptop users and it actually has a medical term associated with it.

Smallhandwristlaptoptouchpad Disorder, otherwise known as SHLTP.

Ok, that’s a joke.

What is really happening is that your wrists or hands are touching the “touchpad” on the laptop ,the little square soft area under your space bar. This is a hardware piece of your laptop that you can use as a mouse instead of attaching a mouse. Not everyone knows this but if you touch it while you’re typing, the cursor/mouse will move on you.

The people having most of the problems with this are women with smaller hands.  Some of the touchpads on laptops are wider or more delicate to the touch so you may not even see this problem.

You can disable this function or just keep aware of this and maybe you can avoid touching the touchpad.

If you want help with disabling this feature, Call That Girl today and we can remote in your computer and disable it for you.

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Memory, motherboards and hard drives, what’s the dif?

Posted by callthatgirl on January 8, 2010

Many of my clients will call and say their computers are slow and usually they say “I think my computer is out of memory, I have deleted a bunch of stuff and it’s still slow”

I explain to them that their memory is not out of space, but rather their hard drive may be out of space, and that’s not usually the culprit of a slow computer. Let’s first start with explaining what memory is and what a hard drive is.

Today’s blog is to help the basic user understand the differences!

MEMORY: Your computer comes with 2 types of memory, but the only one we will talk about is RAM (random access memory). These are little green sticks that are installed inside your computer. Every computer has RAM installed, but it’s usually the bare minimum. You need to purchase more to make the computer go faster. Or rather I should add, do more work. With more memory, you can run more applcations and work much more efficiently.

Here is what memory looks like:

The easiest tool on the internet to find out how much memory you have installed and how much you can upgrade to, is to use the Crucial Scanner, http://www.crucial.com

Their scanner is awesome and also allows you to buy the memory you need to get your computer up to it’s optimal speed.

HARD DRIVES: This is where your operating sytem and programs are installed and what makes the computer start up and get going. This is also the place where your pictures, music and your documents are stored.

This is a picture of a hard drive. It’s in the computer right next to your DVD player. 

MOTHERBOARDS: Finally, here is what a motherboard looks like. It’s like your car’s computer, it makes it run. Without it, you have no computer. There is really no reason a basic user will need to do anything with this componet of the computer unless you want to install your own memory. I don’t recommend you get in there and play!